America’s political system has been hijacked to ensure those with power keep it.
If you look at American politics and think everything is fine, this video is not for
you.
To the rest of us, things seem pretty broken.
I mean, our forefathers created a beautiful system and we live in a magical country.
How the hell did things get so bad?
These days, just 2% of Americans trust that our elections work how they’re supposed
to.
Congress has an approval rating of 20%
Our leaders are locked in partisan warfare and they aren’t fixing anything.
And we're angry. We're angry at the system, at each other. Our country's getting poorer,
sicker, more divided and our families are paying the price.
We don’t even talk to each other anymore!
America’s political system has been hijacked to ensure those with power keep it.
And for the rest of us? Well, it’s not so good.
I’m going to show you exactly how today’s political system is creating the problem,
exactly how we fix it, and how the solution ultimately depends on you.
This Venn diagram shows the relationship between an elected official doing what the people
want, and their likelihood of getting reelected.
Ideally, they’d serve the people, and have a high likelihood of reelection,
But a recent Harvard Business School report by Professor Michael Porter and Katherine
Gehl show that the relationship looks more like this.
They found virtually no correlation between serving the will of the people and getting
reelected. In other words, if our elected leaders do their jobs, they’re more likely
to lose their jobs.
How is that possible? The report blames it on two privately held, gain-seeking organizations...
America’s two major political parties.
In 2019, both major parties publicly threatened to blacklist candidates and contractors who
veered from the party lines.
They control the money, the debates, the primaries, they even draw their own voting districts.
A full 61% of Americans want another option, but any third party or independent who runs
is seen as a “spoiler.”
So year after year, we choose between the lesser of two evils…
Democrats. Republicans. Republicans. Democrats.
In any other environment, a new competitor would swoop in to better serve their constituency
— You hate your cable company? Here comes streaming — but the two parties have rigged
the system to block competition.
But it gets worse...
In 86% of House races, we now know which party will win the general election before it even
starts. That means all of the competition is in the
primaries.
Where as few as 14% of voters participate.
And primary voters tend to be more partisan than those who vote in the general election.
So the most partisan candidates win the primary, they’re virtually guaranteed to win the
general, so you can guess what happens next.
Over time, the parties move further and further apart.
This graphic shows members of Congress who worked with the other party to pass a law
in 1953.
The gray lines represent their collaboration. The more lines you see, the more times they
crossed party lines to pass a law.
This is how it looked in ‘67. In ‘81.
Look what happened in 1995.
And by 2011 it represents where we are today.
Hardliners are rewarded. Collaboration is vilified.
Congress is so gridlocked they can’t even pass the most basic laws to improve the lives
of everyday Americans.
For the first time since the Great Depression, life expectancy in the U.S. is actually going
DOWN, while it goes up in the rest of the world.
We were once ranked top in the world for education. We’ve fallen to 27th.
We can’t afford life-saving prescriptions, and medical bills are forcing families into
bankruptcy.
Almost HALF of American families can’t even afford basic necessities like rent and food.
What I want to know is, how do we fix it?
You know, I think I’m getting a little carried away here. I’m gonna bring my friend Josh
in while I calm down.
We need to take our government back and make it work for us.
So much of what’s failing is a symptom of our failed elections.
Look, this isn’t about giving the power to the right or the left, or asking Congress
to fix itself. Because frankly they won’t.
So we have to go around Congress. And the good news is, in the U.S., states
run elections, even federal elections — So when we pass election laws in a state, it
affects the federal elections.
And get this: A Bloomberg news study showed that throughout American history, passing
state laws has been the key to creating massive federal change…
And the law we need to pass? It’s called the American Anti-Corruption Act. It fixes
the system so government can work for you and your family – not just a handful of
special interests and political insiders.
Here’s how it works. We have independent commissions draw voting
districts. We make it illegal for lobbyists to donate
to politicians. We give every voter a $100 tax credit they
can use to support the candidate of their choice.
We put reasonable term limits on elected officials. We implement Ranked Choice Voting to allow
independents and 3rd parties to run without spoiling elections.
And finally we enact secure, Automatic Voter Registration and vote from home ballots — so
now you’ve got more people voting and it’s easier to vote.
This is common sense stuff.
It creates a Congress that’s more responsive to the people, and can finally get stuff done.
Look, we’ve polled this law and it’s incredibly popular across party lines.
All we have to do is pass them in states across the country. How do we do that?
MICHAEL, to camera:
Aha! Thank you Josh.
That brings us to this simple pie chart.
It shows the percentage of a population required to create real and lasting change.
Researchers looked at movements from all over the world and found that when 3.5% of a population
actively engages in fighting for change, they win. Every single time.
In America, 3.5% is 11 million people — and it needs to be conservatives, progressives,
and independents together — America is roughly divided into thirds. That means no one group
has the power to do it alone.
And here’s the best part: millions are already involved in the movement, and together, they’ve
already racked up more than 100 victories in cities and states across America.
But we need millions more. And that’s why I’m talking to you.
Here’s what I need you to do right now.
Go to Represent dot U S and sign up to be part of the next anti-corruption victory in
your state. There are already people near you fighting, and they need your help.
If that’s not for you, join the CommonWealth-- A community of people giving whatever amount
they can every month to support local anti-corruption campaigns. Every single dollar goes to the
front lines of the fight, not to overhead or organizational expenses.
All I’m asking is that everyone who watches this video needs to do something. That you
do something. Because you can be damn sure if you do nothing, nothing is going to change.
I’m here to tell you that your voice does matter.
Join us.